What did graduates do after higher education in 2023?

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) has today published data on what graduates of 2022 were doing 15 months after graduating. 

This group graduated after the Covid-19 pandemic, though will have faced pandemic-related disruption during their studies.  

Despite these graduates facing significant challenges during their studies, today’s data shows higher education continues to provide good outcomes, and graduates view their outcomes positively. 

This comes at a time when there’s a lot of interest in the benefits and outcomes of degrees, and continued questions about the value for money of degrees and the graduate jobs market.  

We’ve continued to set out how higher education benefits individuals and the wider economy, and recently published analysis showing how graduates typically earn more through their lifetime compared to those who could have continued in education but chose employment instead. 

Despite this debate, there have been continued high levels of applications to start university in 2024–25. This shows that demand for higher education is still high and prospective students recognise higher education is a good choice for their future.  

The data published today provides further evidence to inform this debate. 

The data covers students graduating after the pandemic and tells us what they were doing in 2023, 15 months after they graduated.

Overall employment and unemployment  

83% of graduates were in employment or unpaid work, the majority of which (61%) were in full time employment, an increase of 5 percentage points compared to 2018–19. Of these, 11% were in part-time employment, and 10% a combination of employment and further study. A further 6% were in further study.  

The proportion of graduates that were unemployed (5%) was the same as those that graduated in 2021 and 1 percentage point lower than in 2019. 

High skilled employment 

79% of graduates from higher education providers were employed in high-skilled jobs, a one percentage point increase compared to 2020–21. This was 85% for science subjects and 75% for non-science subjects. 

Salaries 

Two thirds (66%) of graduates in employment were earning more than £27,000 just 15 months after graduation, a 13 percentage point increase compared to those graduating in 2021. 

Graduate reflections 

A significant majority of graduates in employment or further study were positive about their career progression, with: 

• 77% agreeing their current activity fits with future plans 
• 69% saying they were using what they learnt during their studies 
• 84% saying they found their employment or study to be meaningful